Retort for mineral oils



Sept. 13, 1932. J. L. TAYLOR ET AL 1,876,789

RETORT FOR MINERAL OILS Fil ed March 6. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 T0CONDENSER FROM SUPPLY TANK INVENTORS J. I... TAYLOR 2n- TGRNEYS Sept.13, 1932. .1. TAYLOR ET AL 1,376,739

RE'I'ORT FOR MINERAL OILS Filed March 6, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 TOCONDENSER FROM SUPPLY TANK INVENTORS J. L. TAYLOR JOHN LEWIS TAYLOR AnnJosErrr r. TAPIE, or satire- ARBARA, CALIFORNIA 7 HEB TATE RETORT nonMINERAL oILsi Application filed March 6, i929. Seria1=No.h34 4 ,707. I

Our invention relates to a retort for min? eral oils. a

It is an object of this invention to provide a retort for thedistillation of mineral oils and the like, in which a film of oil isapplied to a moving heated surface, in particular a revolving cylinderinternally heatf ed, preferably by electrical means, and disposed withina stationary casing. The low er portion of the revolving cylinder dipsinto the oil under treatment and a film of oil is thus subjected to adistilling operation which is under the control of the operator.

Means are'also provided for scraping residual carbon from the revolvingcylinder,

which is removed from the apparatus. The

retort is so constructed that the distilling operation may be carried oncontinuously.

The apparatus is intended for the topping of crude mineral oils or thedistilling of the same in which the temperatures are high enough tocrack the oil or the retort may be used for the distillation of toppedoils and the distilling operation may be carried on at sub-atmospheric,atmospheric or superatmospheric pressure.

Our invention consists of the construction and combination of partshereinafter described and claimed. Referring to-the draw- 1ngs:

Figure 1 is a front elevation with parts in section, of a retortembodying our invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation taken of the right hand end of the apparatusshown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

' Fig. 4 is a horizontal vertical cross section taken on the line 1- 1of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation taken at the left hand side of the apparatusshown'in Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings 1 indicates a valved oil supply pipe,supplying oil from a storage tank (not shown), to a retort indi cated asa unit by the numeral 2. The retort comprises an outer stationary shellor casing 3 which may be of any preferred shape but is shown here as acylinder, the upper part of which is provided with a vapor dome 4 fromwhich leads an outlet vapor pipe 5 to any suitable or preferredcondenser, not

shown. 6 is'a valved outlet arranged at the bottom of the casing3. Agauge 7serves-to indicate the'level of mineral oil in the casing3- Ahollow shaft 8 passes through'the' cen-, ter of the ends of the casing 3which are provided with stuffing boxes 9. TA hollow metal cylinder 1Oclosed, at each end is fast to thehollow shaft 8. This hollow cylinder TT 10 is provided internally adjacent the inner wall thereof withelectric heating coils 11 of any suitable or preferred construction.

Current is supplied to the heating coil 11 by means of conductors 12 and13 passing through the hollow shaft 8 and terminating in conductor rings12 and 13" respectively, mounted on insulating plugs 14 and 15 re.-spectively. The conductor ring 12 is-in re-' volving contact with thebrush 16 while the conductor ring 13 is brought into contact with thebrush 17 The brushes 16 and 17 are connected to a suitable source ofelectric en-. ergy indicated at 18. 19 is a rheostat forcon trolling theheating element 11.

- The cylinder 10 isrotated by means of an electric motor 20 rotating aworm 21 in with agear 22 fast to the hollow shaft 8Q The motor 20 ispreferably a variable speed motor so that the speed of rotation of thecylinder 10 may be underthe control of the operator. j

Means arejprovided for' scraping OE. and removing either periodically orcontinuously the residual carbon deposited on the outer periphery of therotating cylinder 10. .The' same consists of a longitudinalstationaryknife blade 23, the lowerportion of which is curved andfastened to the outershell 3, so as, to provide a horizontallongitudinal. trough in which a scroll conveyor 21 is disv posed. Oneend of such scrollconveyor-2t projects through one'side of the casing3.- and is provided with a gear 25 inmesh with a'worm 26' operated by amotor at 27. The other end of the scroll conveyor passes throughtheopposite side of the shell3 as at28.

Operation-Assuming that it is desired to top" mineral crude'oil, theoil'through the supply pipe-1 is "introduced into the retort tation ofthe cylinder 10. For the topping of the oil a low temperature, issufiicient. The topped mineral oil remaining in the re tort 2 may now berun-ofl' either through the outlet 6 or if desired the temperature maynow be raised, so as to crack the oil. Any residual carbon is scrapedoil by the knife blade 23 and conveyed from the apparatus b means of theconveyor scroll 24. The disti ling process may be carried on at anypressure desired, either atmospheric, sub'-atmos.- pheric orsuper-atmospheric ;'the pressure bemg a function of the condenserapparatusnot shown. The speed of rotation of the revolving cylinder 10'may also be regulated as desired. It will be understood that the speedwill not only be a function of the diameter of the cylinder 10 but alsoof the distillation process, the object being to have the film of oil onthe cylinder 10 for a suflicient length of time-to carry out theparticular distillation process. p

In the distillation process where destructive distillation is carried onand all the oil is distilled with the exception of the'residual carbondeposit which is scraped oil' and removed by means of the knife blade 23and the scroll conveyor 24, theprocess may be continuous. It will beunderstood also that in case where the distilling process is carried oneither above or below atmospheric pres-.

sure, provision must be made at the oil inlet and carbon outlet toassure the proper functioning of the retort, preventing the introductionof air into the retort or the escape of vapors therefrom respectively.

We have shown a hinge cover 29, preferably rovided with a packing whichmay be move over the scroll conveyor outlet 28 so as to prevent accessof air to the interior of the shell. The scroll conveyor 24 may beoperated intermittently or continuously, having for its operating meansan independent motor 27 or the outlet 28 of the scroll conveyor 24 maycommunicate with an air tight container so that access of air may beprevented to the interior of the shell at all times.

Various changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of partsby those skilled in the art. without departing from our invention asclaimed.

We claim:

1. A. retort for the treatmentv of mineral oils comprising a, stationarycasing provided with a vapor outlet, means for supplying oil topartially fill said casing, a hollow, horizontal shaft, a cylinderspaced from said casing mounted on said shaft and adapted to have itslower portion submerged in said oil, electric resistance coils disposedadjacent the inner periphery of said cylinder, electric conduits leadingfrom said resistance coils and passing through said hollow shaft to asource of electric energy, means for rotating said shaft, a longitudinalknife blade for scraping carbon from said cylinder, and a scrollconveyor for removing the scraped carbon from said casing. 2. A retortfor the treatment of mineral oils comprising a stationary casingprovided with a vapor outlet, means for supplying oil to partially fillsaid casing, a rotatable, horizontal cylinder within said casing andadapted to have its lower portion submerged in said oil, means forrotating said cylinder, means for heating said cylinder, and means forremoving carbon formed on said cylinder from said casing without saidcarbon coming in contact with the oil in the lower portion of saidcasing.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification.

JOHN LEWIS TAYLOR. JOSEPH F. TAPIE.

